If you discount all the hypothetical environmental costs that at best guess are just that, guesses. And, if you were to consider this penalty in a somewhat satirical manner, it would have been cheaper for VW if they would have been killing the consumers of their cars.

I understand the punitive nature of the penalty and its amount, but the amount seems somewhat egregious given the fact that all VW did was violate regulations of a government body. Uber is constantly praised for skirting or directly violating state or local government laws and regulations, yet is seen in an overall positive light for the supposed benefit they are providing society. This is the government's heavy hand making an example of VW and it's violation of regulation.